SPAIN 1 UKRAINE 0 | EURO 2016 GROUP C MATCH RESULT

Spain hosted the Ukraine for there must win Group C qualifying match for the Euro 2016 competition in France. Both Nations came into this game with 9 points each, behind Group leader Slovenia with 12 points (now 15 after defeating Luxemburg tonight). A loss tonight by Spain would have made their qualification for France 2016 almost out of their reach, Spain managed the objective winning 1 - 0.

Although Spain won, they suffered patches of grey moments where the Ukraine created clear chances of goals,  but luckily for the home side they missed. Apart from this Spanish goalkeeper Iker Casillas had to make some important saves to stop the visitors from equalizing, especially in the 2º half.

Spain continues to have its long standing problem, their lack of GOAL. The Football & midfield performance was outstanding, with such talents as Iniesta, Koke, Isco & Silva in the centre & controlling the ball it had to be. However the scoreline does not correspond to the Football exhibited, there is a serious lack of upfront goal scoring effectiveness. Young Juventus forward Alvaro Morata officially debuted & scored the only goal in the 29th min but he was out of sync & not as dangerous as expected. Ramos hit the post later but little more to "hang up on the wall".

The lack of "killing off" power allowed the Ukraine to revive & believe in themselves that they could draw & they nearly did.  

Overall, a win & the 3 points for Spain which was the Nº 1 objective & priority. But the image given still leave doubts in the air & many questions still opened. Perhaps we (myself) are badly accustomed after enjoying 8 years of unbelievable Football that included 2 Euro & 1 World Cup titles, a level perhaps not to be seen again in a long time.

Details:
Score & starting line-ups:

SPAIN - 1: Iker Casillas; Juanfran, Ramos, Piqué, Jordi Alba; Busquets, Koke, Isco, Iniesta, Silva & Morata

UKRAINE - 0: Pyatov; Fedetskiy, Khacheridi, Kucher, Shevhuk; Tymoshchuk, Rotan; Konoplyaka, Stepanenko, Yarmolenko & Zozulya.

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SPAIN LOSE 2 - 1 TO SLOVAKIA IN GROUP C EURO 2016 QUALIFIER

Slovakia take the top spot of Group C after defeating Spain at home 2 - 1 in the Euro 2016 qualifier. Surprise result after Spain had ball domination between 65 - 70 % with Slovakia defending & looking for the counter-attack. 

Spain has the same problem that seems to have no solution from Coach Vicente Del Bosque, the inability to score goals. Plus the "Diego Costa option" is not working at all, a paradox as the player is scoring goals on a weekly basis with his Club Chelsea FC.

Spain started with the following 11 players:

Casillas; Juanfran, Albiol, Piqué, Jordi Alba; Busquets, Koke; Cesc, Silva, Iniesta; & Diego Costa.

As you can see all top class names on paper, but the opposition teams seem to have worked out the antidote to halt Spain by simply defending in block & frustrating the Spaniards until they make mistakes.

After Spanish keeper Iker Casillas made a brilliant one hand save early in the match, he was later confused by a swirling free-kick drive that found the net in the 17th min by Kucka. Could Casillas have done better? Maybe or maybe not, what is assured is that the local debate about his form & team place is back. 

From here it was virtually a Spanish whitewash with total dominance, but Slovakia kept to their game plan with their goalkeeper Kozacik making numerous brilliant interventions to keep the Spaniards out. 

As the frustration increased, Spanish Coach Del Bosque risked by taking off defender Abiol for a forward in Paco Alcacer. The move finally paid off when Jordi Alba found Alcacer in the 82nd min who scored the equalizer. However, with Spain somewhat relaxed & the defence with a three man line, Slovakia exploited the space & countered with Stoch scoring the winner in the 87th min. 

Hard knock for the reigning European Champions which are unfortunately tasting too often the bitterness of defeat in the last months. Obviously something is not right, however the solutions are not appearing to fix things. 

For Slovakia, a grand night as they set sail for the Euro 2016 Group qualification after a great game for them, with clear ideas of play & the Football they had exhibit with total faith. 

Spain next plays Luxembourg, must win, of course.     

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SPAIN 5 - MACEDONIA 1 | EURO 2016 GROUP C QUALIFIER

Spain began its Euro 2016 campaign with tonights Group C qualifier match against Macedonia in the City of Valencia (Spain). An important game as the Spanish Football National Team was under the microscope after their disastrous World Cup in Brazil, the exit of key veteran & historically irreplaceable players & a loss last week against France in a friendly. However this was official & the players were vibed up & concentrated to start well & gave a good impression of the "new look" Team. New look in some names but not a radical "revolution" as some expected.

The final result was a 5 - 1 victory for Spain over Macedonia with all the damage being done in the second half for the visitors. From a players perspective the highlights were the debut of Valencia CF young forward Alcacer, young Barça forward Munir & Iker Casillas who started as goalkeeper. At a performance level, Spain played well & got better as the match advanced. 

Macedonia played their best Football the 1st half being solid in defence but taking the Spanish ball loses as opportunities to counter-attack. After some initial "sloppy" play Spain went ahead in the 15th min through a SERGIO RAMOS penalty goal. With Macedonia still recovering from that action, Spain went further ahead through PACO ALCACER who got his first full International goal in the 17th min.

Macedonia reacted well & put in its best 15 mins of Football, dominating the ball & creating many chances. One of those attacks was rewarded with a penalty that IBRAIMI converted in the 29th min. Things remained even until just before half time when BUSQUETS got Spain´s third when he shot from outside the box (deflection included) in the 47th min.

The second half was all Spain & the 50th min goal from DAVID SILVA took all the spirit 6 Football ambition out of Macedonia. Spain continued to dominate & created numerous opportunities (Cesc hit the bar, for e.g. ) that if all converted could have made the final scoreline even much greater. The fifth goal came in the 90th min when PEDRO chipped over the Macedonian keeper.

Overall a good & promising start for Spain in the EURO 2016 road, with tonight the team doing things they have been criticised for not doing, like scoring goals & shooting from outside the box. Great match from SIlva, Koke , Cesc Fabregas & Iker Casillas who made some solid saves. Young stars Paco Alcacer & Munir debuted with the former scoring & the latter shutting the "Football door for the Moroccan Team". 

Spain will again be in Euro 2016 action with two matches early next month (Slovania & Luxemburg).

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EURO 2016 | SPAIN NATIONAL TEAM GROUP C SCHEDULE

The UEFA European Nations Cup qualification schedule & Group for Spain has been published. In Group C along with Spain are Ukraine, Belarus, Slovakia, Macedonia & Luxembourg. The host Nation for the Euro 2016 Championship will be France.

Group C : Qualifiers for Spain:

8/09/2014 Spain - Macedonia (time 20.45)
9/10/2014 Slovakia - Spain (20.45)
12/10/2014 Luxembourg - Spain (20.45)
15/11/2014 Spain - Belarus (20.45)
27/03/2015 Spain - Ukraine (20.45)
14/06/2015 Belarus - Spain (20.45)
05/09/2015 Spain - Slovakia (20.45)
8/09/2015 Macedonia - Spain (20.45)
9/10/2015 Spain - Luxembourg (20.45)
12/10/2015 Ukraine - Spain (20.45)

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CHAMPIONS LEAGUE RESULTS | MALAGA FC DRAW - REAL MADRID WIN

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE tonight with two SPANISH FOOTBALL Clubs in action in their respective Groups. Here are the final results & all the goalscorers.

MALAGA FC played to consolidate the top spot of Group C against ANDERLECHT & drew 2 - 2. The protagonist for Malaga was player DUDA who scored twice, the first in the 45th min & the second in the 61st min. Anderlectht then began creating their chances but Malaga goalie Kamiani along with his defenders did what they needed to keep the rivals out. However, they got their first  goal, & well deserved, in the 50th min via JOVANOVIC & then drew very late via MBOKANI . Malaga lapsed towards the end & they will be disappointed with the equalizing Anderlecht blemish to their game.

REAL MADRID had their place in the next stage of Champions League secure with 2º place of Group D. The Spanish team gave a run to less regular players & some youngsters ( Nacho & later Jose Rodriguez along with Morata) to face AJAX of AMSTERDAM which lost 4 - 1.

Real Madrid did all the damage in the first 55 minutes & then went though a 15 min rough patch of lapse play that cost them a 60th min goal from Ajax player BOERRIGTER. After that the Dutch side had its best moments with more ball dominance & same more goal chances. Real Madrid recovered & managed a fourth from CALLEJON in the 88th min to seal & shut proceedings.

Earlier the Real Madrid goals came via CRISTIANO RONALDO from a Benzema pass in the 12th min, that was followed by a CALLEJON goal from a Modric pass in the 27th min & a third from KAKA with a curler in the 40th min.

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EURO 2012 | SPAIN 1 ITALY 1 GROUP C | EXPERIMENT FAILURE

The SPANISH FOOTBALL TEAM & the defending European Champions began its attempt to make Football History ( winning Euro-World Cup - Euro) against ITALY in the opener of Group C. The final result was a 1 - 1 draw that will taste bitter for Spain as they had chances to win towards the end & nearly get the "calming" 3 points. 

Cesc - De Rossi

Looking now with hindsight ( very easy I know ) the strategic bet by Spanish Football Coach Vicente Del Bosque to play without a true Centre Forward as an upfront reference did not pay off for Spain. In fact, it was a mistake that may have directly affected the final result & given Italy wings that a priori they did not possess.

Spain looked slow in the first half & Italy managed to pack the midfield with men ( no Spanish forward to worry about ) & block effectively the flanks. This bogged Spain in the midfield & Italy used their numerical superiority in the centre to effectively counter-attack.

The situation was delicate half way through the first half as Spanish goalkeeper Iker Casillas had to make a couple of very important saves that kept Spain alive & stopped them possibly falling apart. Spain did react as it was obvious that the Spanish team has more talented players & it was they whom managed to redirected the side & halt the Italians.

Said more clearly, Spain had no reference upfront, no real forward to put the Italian defenders under pressure & it became patent that Spain´s initial idea was failing. Something had to be done, some change, something new if Spain was to find the net.

Di Natale scores for Italy

Surprisingly Spain started the second half as the first, without any change & without the much asked for reference upfront. One could think that this was Spanish Coach Vicente Del Bosque second mistake today, not reacting in time.

Italy did on the otherhand as their Coach Prandelli was reading well the whole game from the first minute. Prandelli took off Balotelli, after missing a sitter, & put on DE NATALE who minutes later put Italy ahead with his excellent 61st min goal.

Cesc Fabregas draws for Spain

To the credit of Spain who are not the current European & World Champions for nothing, the team reacted admirably & managed to pull back an equalizer in the 64th min when Silva combined with CESC FABREAGAS who beat goalie Buffon to score.

Spanish Coach Del Bosque then reacted with a substitute & put on winger Jesus Navas for Silva to open up the Italian defence. It worked as Spain found chances & Iniesta more freedom in the position where Silva was originally. Defensive left-back Jordi Alba began finding room down the flank & Spain looked much better.

Then Spain decided to finally put on a true forward, a reference upfront, & changed Cesc Fabregas for Fernando Torres. Although Italy still was dangerous in their counters, Spain improved markedly & Torres had three clear chances to win the game for Spain as he confused the Italian defenders & found space.

In the end with time running out for both sides they turned conservative & cautious somewhat & practically settled for a draw result.

Some conclusive observations:

• Spain can only get better as today they were never in the groove. Most rivals know well the Spanish weakness of creating a defensive wall & it was evident today as well
• Its going to be a difficult tournament for Spain if they don't come up with new ideas. Today they did not look fresh & looked predictable.
• The "without a forward" experiment was a failure & nearly cost Spain the match
• Andres Iniesta looks superb & he is the key if Spain is to advance in this Euro 2012
• David Villa is dearly missed as he would have been handy today.

Said all this, very early on & better a draw result than a loss for Spain. Could be positive as well as some examinations & answer finding could get positive results for the future Group games, games which by the way they need to win & here is the pressure not needed at all at this point after drawing tonight. 

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EURO 2012 | SPAIN - GROUP C TEAMS

Spanish Sports daily "Sport" has made up these very interesting info-diagrams based on the teams that share Group C in which the SPANISH NATIONAL FOOTBALL TEAM finds itself for this EURO 2012.

The European Nations Championship kicks-off on Friday & Spain has its first Group match against the always difficult Italy. The below diagrams give some facts in Spanish, but easily figured out if you don't understand the language.

The line-ups are only to orientate the readers. Hope you enjoy!

SPAIN

ITALY

CROATIA

IRELAND

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EURO 2012 DRAW | SPAIN, ITALY, IRELAND, CROATIA | GROUP C

The Euro 2012 Group draw ceremony has been celebrated in Kiev & has given us the match ups of the 16 European Nations that will by playing it out next June 2012 (Poland-Ukraine) to proclaim themselves 2012 European Champions.

Euro 2012

This blog concernes itself with SPANISH FOOTBALL & thus informs that the reigning EURO & WORLD CHAMPS - SPAIN - are in Group C & have Italy, Ireland & Croatia in their Group. Thus these are the playing dates - city - times-opponents for Spain:
10 june, Gdansk: Spain-Italy (18.00)
14 june, Gdansk: Spain- Irlanda (20.45)
18 june, Gdansk: Spain-Croatia (20.45)

As we can see big opening match for Spain although, relatively speaking, Spain can qualify in this Group, playing well of course & being in top form.

The other Groups look like the following:
GROUP A: Poland, Greece, Russia & Czech Rep
GROUP B: Holland, Germany, Portugal & Denmark ( "Group of Death")
GROUP D: Ukraine, Sweden, France & England


As you know the first two placed teams of each group continue onto the next stage with 1st of Group A playing 2nd of Group B/ 2nd of Group A playing 1ºst of B ...1st of Group C playing 2ºnd of Group D / 2ºnd of Group C playing 1ºst of Group D.
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2010 -2011 CHAMPIONS LEAGUE GROUP C - D RESULTS | VALENCIA 6 - BURSASPOR 1 | PANATHINAIKOS 0 - FC BARCELONA 3

Two Spanish teams participated & finished well in their respective Group C & D CHAMPIONS LEAGUE matches with both winning well & assuring their place in the next stages. 

Juan Mata opens Valencia scoreline

VALENCIA CF steam-rolled BURSASPOR 6 -1 in their Group C game with Valencia CF assuring its place in the next stages of the Champions League independently of it last Group match against Manchester United. Not much to add except that it was a one way street with Valencia the only car in the lane-way.

Roberto Soldado scored twice

The goal scorers were JUAN MATA penalty (16th m), SOLDADO (20th m), ADURIZ  (33rd m), JOAQUIN (37th m), SOLDADO (55th m) & C.DOMINGUEZ (78th m). The only goal for the visitors came from BATALLA in the 69th min.

Pedro Rodriguez scored twice 

FC BARCELONA travelled to Athens & won away 0 - 3 against PANATHINAIKOS in their Group D match that gave,  & now assures,  Barça the top spot of the Group. The Greek side had a golden opportunity when CISSE went one on one with Barça keeper Valdes & had his shot deflected away from danger. The Greeks would pay dearly for this missed opportunity as Barcelona slowly recomposed itself, took control & never looked back. Dani Alves, Adriano, Xavi, Iniesta, Messi & company then put in the 4th & 5th gear & it was good-night Panathinaikos.

PEDRO scored twice tonight with goals in the 26th min & the & 68th min.

Lionel Messi scored again

The other goal for Barcelona came from LIONEL MESSI who put in another goal for his team in the 62nd min. Andres Iniesta played his bit tonight giving the pass in two of the three goals. 

FC Barcelona now go away with their minds at ease in reference to Champions League & focus back on the Spanish League & next Monday night big clash against Real Madrid.  Tweet

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CHAMPIONS LEAGUE GROUP C D RESULTS | VALENCIA CF 3 GLASGOW RANGERS 0 | FC COPENHAGUE 1 FC BARCELONA 1

Two Spanish Clubs had their night of CHAMPIONS LEAGUE with Group C & D action. Valencia CF played hosts to Scottish team Rangers & FC Bareclona travelled to Denmark for their game. Here are the results & scorers of the mentioned European Football clashes.

Roberto Soldado scores for Valencia CF

VALENCIA CF defeated GLASGOW RANGERS 3-0 in their Group C match to put the Spanish team closer to qualifying for the next phase of Champions League. Valencia CF started strong looking for a quick result but the Scottish counter-attacked & had their own opportunities. It was relative even until the 30th min when ROBERTO SOLDADO scored the first for Valencia CF.

Rangers went out in the 2º half looking for the equalizer but were more wary of stopping the attacking Valencia team which Rangers goalie McGregor did most of the night with some spectacular saves. However, Valencia just kept powering away & SOLDADO got the second in the 71st min after a nice combination with Mata. The third came in the 90th min when TINO COSTA scored a great running goal to shut the match.

Valencia celebrate a goal against Rangers

FC COPENHAGUE drew 1 -1 against FC BARCELONA in a rough & tough match that frustrated Barcelona with the sticky Danish play. Once again the Danes put up a well organized & disciplined set up that paid off tonight.  

Lionel Messi scores against Copenhague

LIONEL MESSI opened the "can" in the 30th min to only see 2 minutes later how CLAUDEMIR equalized for Copenhague. Then the controversial moment of the night occured when local forward N´DOYE was floored by Barça keeper VICTOR VALDES in the 43rd min when he run out of his square to intercept a ball in N´Doye path. Instead Valdes took out the Copenhague player as seen in the below picture & the referee awarded a free kick against N´Doye for fouling Puyol beforehand: the Danes were outraged.

Valdes stops N´Doye in the 43rd min

The Danes could well claim that Valdes should have received a RED CARD & Barca would have been down to 10 men. But this "advantage" never came & the game finished with the draw result. Both side did have their particular opportunities throughout the game: Villa hit a post  & Iniesta in a great individual play missed; but that's Football & no merit at all should be taken away from FC Copenhague.

Barça haven´t secured their pass onto the next stage of Champions & still needs to win their next Group matches. Tweet

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FIFA WORLD CUP 2010 | 32 TEAMS | GROUP C

Original Source Blog : Sp Ftball Sprts /
Spanish Football Sports Blog continues today will its daily serving of FIFA WORLD CUP 2010 32 Nations team photos. On Wednesday Group A was posted & yesterday Group B which can be viewed below. Today Group C ( England, Algeria, Slovenia & USA) team photos get highlighted with tomorrow Group D.

GROUP C

ENGLAND

ALGERIA
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

SLOVENIA

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